1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the transfer of public data in a public information space which may include any number of devices for storing such data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Calendars and address books have traditionally been the means people use to track task and contact information relating to both personal and professional matters. Recently, with the growth of personal computing and the Internet, a migration from paper calendars and address books toward electronic personal information managers (PIMs) is taking place. PIMs may comprise software applications running on a personal or laptop computer and personal digital assistants (PDAs)—small, electronic devices of varying types, all of which store varying types of reminder, contact, task, notes, and text information as well as other types of files.
Generally, software PIMs include products such as Microsoft Outlook, Interactive Commerce Corporation's ACT!, and other similar programs are designed to run on a computer. PDA devices include devices such as those using the Palm or Microsoft Windows Pocket PC operating systems, as well as other, more basic contact and calendar devices. Each PDA generally includes calendar, contact, personal tasks, notes, documents, and other information, while more sophisticated devices allow a user to fax, send e-mails, and communicate in other ways both by wireline and wirelessly. Even advanced cellular phones carry enough memory and processing power to store contact information, surf the web, and provide text messaging. Along with the growth in the sophistication of these devices, the need to transfer information between them has grown significantly as well.
Many Internet web portals also now provide file storage, contact and calendar services. For example, major service portals such as Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos, Snap! and others provide on-line calender and contact manager services via a web browser and user account. This allows a user to log in to their own calendar and address book from any Internet-capable web browsing application since the user's individual data is stored on a host server maintained by the web portal provider.
Beyond mere web-based calendar applications, web-based service sites have been developed which provide people with indicators of important events which they can have synchronize with their web based calendar systems. For example, specific events in a Yahoo! calendar prompt the user to “add to my calendar,” and when selected, the event is transferred to the user's account data.
Hence each individual is presented with a multitude of different device types and options for maintaining a “personal information space”—a data store of information customized by, and on behalf of the user which contains both public data the user puts into their personal space, private events in the space, and other data objects such as text files or data files which belong to the user. Once a personal information space is defined, users are presented with the daunting task of keeping information between the different devices in the space synchronized. For example, if an individual keeps a calendar of information on a personal computer in his or her office using a particular personal information manager application, the individual would generally like to have the same information available in a cellular phone, hand-held organizer, and perhaps a home personal computer. The individual may additionally have a notebook computer, and desire all information on the office computer to be synchronized with the notebook.
Until now, synchronization between both documents and personal information managers has occurred through direct connection between the devices, and generally directly between applications such as a personal information manager in one device and a personal information manager in another device or using an intermediary sync-mapping program. In other cases, direct transfer between applications such as transfer between Microsoft's Outlook® computer-based client and Microsoft's Windows CE “Pocket Outlook” application, is possible. Nevertheless, in both cases, synchronization occurs through direct connection between a personal computer and the personal computing device. While this connection is generally via a cable directly connecting, for example, Palm® device in a cradle to the personal computer, the connection may be wireless as well.
Such synchronization schemes are generally relatively inefficient since they require full band-width of the document or binary file to be transferred via the synchronization link. In addition, at some level the synchronization programs require interaction by the user to map certain fields between different programs.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,694,336 and 6,671,757 (“the '336 and '757 Patents”), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/491,675, currently pending (“the '675 Application”), disclose a novel method and system for synchronization of personal information including that which is conventionally found in desktop applications, personal digital assistants, palm computers, and website calendar services, as well as any content in the personal information space including file systems, contact information and/or calendaring information. In one aspect, the system disclosed in the '336 and 757 Patents and the '675 Application comprises a series of device engines which can be utilized on or in conjunction with any personal information manager application or device, on servers, or both, which can connect via a communications network, such as the Internet, to transfer information in the form of differenced data between respective applications and respective devices. In essence, the system of the '336 and '757 Patents and the '675 Application creates a personal information space or personal information store that is comprised of the set of transactions which defines the movement of information between one device, the intermediate storage server, and other devices, and which is unique to an individual user or identifier.
The personal information space is defined by the content which is specific to and controlled by an individual user, generally entered by or under the control of the individual user, and which includes “public” events and data, those generally known to others, and “private” events and data which are not intended to be shared with others. It should be recognized that each of the aforementioned criteria is not exclusive or required, but defines a characteristic of the term “personal information space” as that term is used herein.
A number of different embodiments are disclosed in the aforementioned co-pending patent applications. However, the manner in which information is input to each of the devices which may be defined as part of the personal information space varies. Certain devices take direct input from other electronic devices such as scanners or electronic input such as vCARDs. In most cases, the information must be manually input via the user interface of one of the devices, e.g. typing contact information into a computer application.
However, with the advent and growth of the Internet, a vast quantity of public information is available with no means for easily transferring this public information into a user's personal information space. While applications such as Yahoo! calendar allow a user to pick certain events and click an add button, therefore including it in the calendar, and subsequently allow a user to run a separate synchronization process between the calendar and a desktop application, this requires a number of multiple steps and information which has been synchronized between the web-based calendar and the application-based calendar on the desktop must then be further synchronized to other devices.